ORIGINAL M38 FALLSCHIRMJAGER HELMET LARGE SIZE Ckl68

This is a fantastic find straight out of the estate of a vintage era collector who had been collecting since the 1950’s according to his surviving family members. Originally this helmet had a thick layer of post war camo paint as seen in the very last photo which I painstakingly removed over several days making sure not to do anything that would damage the underlying factory paint. Overall I am quite pleased with how much original factory paint still remained which may have in large part been protected by the vintage post war camo paint job. The remaining outside paint has a light factory textured finish and is about 90% present with zero pitting and only light surface rust bleed through common among more paratrooper helmets I’ve encountered. All 4 spanner bolts are present and untouched with the rear right bolt been a late war unpainted aluminum slotted version. Typical of late war production where German factories were forced to mix and match parts to fulfill orders.

The rear lot number Ckl 4089 is late war dating from the year 1944 according to Brian Ice’s lot data book which shows all helmets ranging from 4060-4090 and M38’s having the large “C” as opposed to the small “c” as seen on earlier ckl lots. All paratrooper helmets produced this late in the war were issued from the factory without any Luftwaffe eagle decal in an effort to economize production and so this is how it was originally sent to the front. The helmet feels great in hand as do all paratroopers size 68 and 71. The liner system is 100% original and has a nice dark honey brown tan with faint factory and size stampings gently obscured over time. All threading on the liner passes the black light test and it has a musty smell to it over all which is exactly what you want to see. The chinstrap is also original and has a nice clean cut line on one of the ends suggesting a cadaver cut. The inside paint is 100% original and completely untouched. My narrative on this particular helmet is that it would have left the factory in 1944 as a late war no decal helmet and then used hard during the last year of the war as paratrooper units were absorbed into existing ground forces.

I’ve priced it very very fairly I feel as it’s worth that amount in original parts alone. Overall a pretty cool looking lid!!!